Teaching Kids to Resist Drugs and Violence

Officer Sally Bullock

Officer Alex Mercado

Commander Kyle Perkins (Supervisor)

D.A.R.E. is a drug and violence prevention education program which is taught by trained Wilmette Police Officers in every fifth grade classroom in Wilmette. This 17 week program represents a collaborative effort between Wilmette schools and the police.

The D.A.R.E. curriculum is designed to equip early adolescent students with the skills to resist substance abuse and violence. D.A.R.E. lessons include the following:

• Learning to recognize and resist peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.
• Enhancing self-esteem.
• Learning assertiveness techniques.
• Learning anger management and conflict resolution skills.
• Developing risk assessment and decision-making skills.
• Building interpersonal and communications skills.
• Learning about positive alternatives to substance use.
• Reducing violence.

  D.A.R.E. is the largest and most widely implemented drug and violence prevention program in the world. It is currently taught by police officers in 19 countries and in 7000 communities in the United States. It has been taught in Wilmette schools since 1986.

  ---

Frequently Asked Questions:

1) Do you think the D.A.R.E. program is effective in reducing drug use among teens?

The D.A.R.E. program would have limited success in curbing teens drug use if the only information young people received about drugs came from D.A.R.E. However, information that students receive in the D.A.R.E. program, coupled with family discussion and reinforcement, can increase the effectiveness of the program.

In 1993 a Gallup Poll Survey of D.A.R.E. graduates nationwide was conducted. The results showed that more than 90% of the graduates believed D.A.R.E. assisted them in avoiding drugs and alcohol.

2) Why teach D.A.R.E. at such a young age?

Young people are exposed to the presence and effects of drugs and alcohol at an even younger age than fifth grade. Many students are fully aware that drugs are a fact of society and are even making their way into our schools.

The D.A.R.E. Program provides students with correct information about drugs and gives them the skills necessary to avoid drugs and negative peer pressure. Supplying fifth graders with this information enables them to be prepared for situations they may soon, if not already, face in or out of school.